Translation and psychometric evaluation of the Greek short forms of two condition-specific quality of life questionnaires for women with pelvic floor disorders: PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was the cross-cultural adaptation, validation, and psychometric evaluation in the Greek language of two self-reported instruments used for patients with pelvic floor disorders (PFDs): the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20) and the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7).

METHODS: For the cross-cultural adaptation, a multistep forward-back translation protocol was utilized. Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the questionnaires involved the assessment of validity, stability, internal consistency, and responsiveness. Validity, stability, and internal consistency were evaluated in women presenting with PFDs (group A), whereas responsiveness was assessed in women undergoing pelvic floor surgery (group B).

RESULTS: A total of 100 women presenting with PFDs were included in Group A. A near excellent content/face validity was confirmed as assessed by the missing values criterion (0-5 %). Stability, as assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient, showed almost perfect agreement with a mean ICC of 0.850 (PFDI-20) and 0.840 (PFIQ-7). Internal consistency was found to be high for both questionnaires (Cronbach's alpha > 0.8). Finally, 85 women underwent pelvic floor repair surgery and were included for the assessment of responsiveness (group B). Good to excellent responsiveness was found for the prolapse and urinary subscales of the questionnaires. However, poor responsiveness was found for the colorectal-anal scale of the PFDI-20, whereas the colorectal-anal scale of the PFIQ-7 proved to be nonresponsive to change.

CONCLUSIONS: The Greek versions of PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 were found to be comprehensible, valid, reliable, and responsive to use with patients complaining of PFDs.